Report reveals key concerns of UK’s ageing society

15 October 2012

One
in six people in England aged over 50 are socially isolated. They have few socially
orientated hobbies, little civic or cultural engagement with society, and may
have very limited social networks. This was a key finding from the most recent
report of the UCL-led English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), a comprehensive
study that aims to understand the economic,
social, psychological and health concerns of an ageing society.

The
multidisciplinary ELSA research team showed that the least wealthy over-fifties
suffer the most social isolation, with the wealthier over 50’s half as likely
to become socially isolated compared to the least wealthy.

The
ELSA report went on to suggest that
focussing public health intervention efforts on less wealthy, less healthy
older people and on improving access to public and private transport for the over-50’s is likely to have
the greatest impact in alleviating social isolation.

The ELSA project is an
extensive research study that follows the lives of more than 10,000 English
people throughout their older age and which reveals the complex
interrelationships between personal finances, social detachment and overall
health and wellbeing. Previous reports from the project have shown how social
engagement is closely linked with long life and healthy ageing.

The current
findings come from the fifth report of ELSA, which is led by researchers
at UCL in partnership with
researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the University of Manchester
and NatCen Social Research.

One of ELSA’s goals was to determine whether measuring
psychological well being at a younger age could predict an individual’s risk of
later
developing poor health and suffering an earlier death. Subjects were first
visited in 2002/03 (wave one) and again most recently in 2010/11 (wave five).

Over a nine year period about 20% of people will pass away. What we found is that of those people in the highest third of enjoyment levels, 9.9% died. Of people in the lowest third of enjoyment, 28.8% died.
This was the case even when factors such as age were taken into account - we still find this protective effect of enjoyment.

Those who were recorded as having a greater enjoyment of life in wave one
were more likely to still be alive 9 to 10 years later than were other
participants. The difference between those who enjoyed life the most and those
who enjoyed life the least was marked, with nearly three times more people
dying in the lower than greater enjoyment group. In addition, ELSA found that measures of
psychological well-being that were taken in 2004/05 (wave two) could be used to
predict which previously unaffected individuals would go on to suffer
disability, reduced walking speed, impaired self-rated health, and to develop
coronary heart disease by the time they were visited again in 2010/11.

These remarkable findings became even more astonishing when it became
clear that the link between psychological well being and long term health and
survival was independent of other factors such as age, gender, ethnicity,
wealth, education and baseline health.

KEY FINDINGS OF THE FIFTH REPORT

Pensions
and wealth:

There
is evidence that a significant number of individuals over recent years have
been retiring gradually, rather than abruptly ceasing work. Almost half of men and a third of women aged 60-64 years
who are in receipt of private pension income are still in work; and these individuals on average work fewer hours
than those who have yet to start drawing their private pensions.

Among
those who have retired over the last decade, average post-retirement family net
income fell to 72% of average pre-retirement income. Those in the top quartile
of pre-retirement income experience the biggest post-retirement percentage
decrease (down 40%).

Social
detachment:

Social
detachment is more common among individuals who never married or have been
separated/divorced or widowed than members of couples.

Men, those living alone and those living in rural
areas are less likely to remain in regular contact with friends and family.

Mobility
problems are associated with a withdrawal from leisure activities and cultural
engagement, as is losing access to transport.

Women
are more likely to become detached from leisure activities than men, but less
likely to become detached from social networks; while widowed individuals are
less likely to withdraw from leisure activities, cultural engagement and, in
particular, social networks than those in a couple.

The project is led by a team of researchers at UCL,
NatCen Social Research, the University of Manchester, and the Institute for
Fiscal Studies. The study is coordinated by Professor Andrew Steptoe, British
Heart Foundation Professor of Psychology and director of the Institute of
Epidemiology and Health Care at UCL. ELSA
began in 2002 and visits volunteer participants every two years. This is
the fifth biennial report.